Most school teachers have a teaching degree at either the bachelor's level or the master's. This is especially so with the public school system.

Due to a number of factors, however, the number of qualified and licensed school teachers has dropped in recent years, leaving an alarmingly low number of qualified teachers on the job, with numbers expected to decline even further as today's school teachers reach the age of retirement.

In order to entice more people to become school teachers, many states have adopted an alternative teaching training program that leads to licensure, just like all other public school teachers in the same state, but a teaching degree isn't necessary.

In fact, a bachelor's degree in any subject a person wants to teach is all that's necessary. With that degree, whichever the subject, he or she can enroll in the alternative programs and become a school teacher although without the formal teaching degree.

Many aspiring school teachers are choosing to earn this type of teaching degree online while either teaching a class of interest, usually in a smaller school system, or assisting a school teacher in a similar class, which is what usually happens in larger school districts.

Earning this type of teaching degree online not only frees up the would-be school teacher's time during school hours, it allows him or her to study whenever it's most convenient for the individual trainee.

Getting a teaching degree online seems to be especially attractive to school teachers in training when they are working in a school system in a remote or rural location. Close ties with the teaching college must be maintained, even though the school itself is located too far for commuting regularly, and computerized learning is proving more effective all the time.

And since parents, school administrators, and the state's board of education understand the need for qualified teachers, the provisions for earning a teaching degree online have become very manageable for the trainee as well as the school and state. Minimal personal contact with the teaching school itself makes it much easier for the trainee to focus on the work without worrying about a hectic travel schedule and the expense of a frequent commute.